Big Star

Big Star - 3rd 'a.k.a Sister Lovers' (1975) {Video Arts-Rykodisc Japan MiniLP VACK-1298 rel 2005}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 333 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 127 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 16 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1975, 2005 Ardent Music / Video Arts Japan / Rykodisc | MiniLP | VACK-1298
Rock / Contemporary Pop/Rock / Power Pop

Cardboard sleeve, digitally remastered re-release of Big Star's last album featuring all of their original members. Cardboard sleeve (mini LP) replicates original LP artwork with obi strip, printed inner and lyric sheet in Japanese & English. After Big Star released Radio City, they fell apart, leaving Alex Chilton to record in 1975 what was later released as 3rd (aka Sister Lovers). The album is strikingly different from everything Chilton created before or after. With pained outpourings such as the haunting "Holocaust," it holds its own against rock's greatest monuments to existential angst, from Tonight's the Night to Bryter Layter. It also ranks alongside the Beach Boys' SMiLE as perhaps the only "classic" album with no set sequence. (Chilton never bothered to sequence it because, upon its completion, no label wanted to release it.) It finally came out four years later, and since then, while it has appeared on several labels, no two have used the same track order.

Big Star - Radio City (1974) {Victor Entertainment Japan MiniLP VICP-62292 rel 2003}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 251 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 86 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 21 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974, 2003 Ardent Music / Victor Entertainment Japan | VICP-62292 | Mini LP
Rock / Contemporary Pop/Rock / Power Pop

Largely lacking co-leader Chris Bell, Big Star's second album also lacked something of the pop sweetness (especially the harmonies) of #1 Record. What it possessed was Alex Chilton's urgency (sometimes desperation) on songs that made his case as a genuine rock & roll eccentric. If #1 Record had a certain pop perfection that brought everything together, Radio City was the sound of everything falling apart, which proved at least as compelling.

Big Star - Complete Third (2016) {3CD Box Set Omnivore Recordings OVCD-192 rec 1974}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.28 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 485 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 562 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974, 2016 Ardent Music / Omnivore Recordings | OVCD-192
Rock / Contemporary Pop/Rock / Power Pop / Proto-Punk

By all rights, the album that came to be known as Big Star's Third should have been a disaster. It was written and recorded in 1975, when Alex Chilton's brilliant but tragically overlooked band had all but broken up. As Chilton pondered his next move, he was drinking and drugging at a furious pace while writing a handful of striking tunes that were often beautiful but also reflected his bitterness and frustration with his career (and the music business in general). Production of the album wasn't completed so much as it simply stopped, and none of the major figures involved ever decided on a proper sequence for the finished songs, or even a title. (The album was also known as Sister Lovers and Beale Street Green at various times.) And yet, Third has won a passionate and richly deserved cult following over the years, drawn in by the emotional roller coaster ride of the songs, informed by equal parts love, loss, rage, fear, hope, and defeat.

Big Star - #1 Record (1972) {Victor Entertainment Japan MiniLP VICP-62291 rel 2003}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 276 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 87 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 17 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1972, 2003 Ardent Music / Victor Entertainment Japan | VICP-62291 | Mini LP
Rock / Contemporary Pop/Rock / Power Pop / Proto-Punk

First-to-CD reissue of Big Star's 1972 first album. Expected to come housed in a mini-LP type cardboard sleeve. The problem with coming in late on an artwork lauded as "influential" is that you've probably encountered the work it influenced first, so its truly innovative qualities are lost. Thus, if you are hearing Big Star's debut album for the first time decades after its release (as, inevitably, most people must), you may be reminded of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers or R.E.M., who came after – that is, if you don't think of the Byrds and the Beatles circa 1965. What was remarkable about #1 Record in 1972 was that nobody except Big Star (and maybe Badfinger and the Raspberries) wanted to sound like this – simple, light pop with sweet harmonies and jangly guitars.

Big Star - I Got Kinda Lost - Fan Made Project (2013) {8CD set with bonus 9th disc, 2015 Upgrade rec 1965-1975}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.66 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.32 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 221 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1965-75, 2015 Ardent Music | ST100/6 | unofficial | Fan Made Project
Rock / Contemporary Pop/Rock / Power Pop

This is the expanded 'I Got Kinda Lost' unofficial Big Star box set. Previously this set contained four discs and was jam packed with all kinds of Big Star related tracks. Like the previous incarnations of 'I Got Kinda Lost', this expanded 2013 release attempts to tell the story chronologically of Big Star through their studio outtakes and alternate versions by keeping it more Big Star centric through the prism of Chris Bell and Alex Chilton - the architects of the band.

Concord release Thank You Friends: Big Star’s Third Live… and more celebrating the musical legacy of one of rock’s most influential bands – Big Star- and their legendary Third album. Experience this classic of late ’70s power pop through the prism of a collective of immensely talented fans, including members of Wilco, R.E.M., Yo La Tengo, and, of course, Big Star. Following the untimely death of Alex Chilton two days ahead of Big Star's SXSW performance in 2010, famous friends and fans came from far and wide to play the gig in his honour. Much of that spontaneous ensemble, along with other musical titans, assembled at Glendale, CA’s Alex Theatre in April 2016 to record and film an epic performance.